Judge refuses to name meddlesome CBI officerNew Delhi, May 8The Delhi High Court Judge, Justice R S Sodhi, has refused to divulge to the CBI the name of the agency official who had allegedly threatened him last week. He has also declined to comment on the charge that his telephone was being tapped by them.

The world is their oyster: Delhiites beat the heat at the Oyster water park in Appu Ghar in the Capital on Thursday.
— Tribune Photo Mukesh Aggarwal

TALKING
POINT
Haryana mulls over
anti-copying law Rohtak, May 8The Haryana Government is considering a proposal for enacting an anti-copying law, after taking a serious view of paper leaks and mass copying in various examinations conducted by the Maharshi Dayanand University, the Board of School Education, Haryana, and the Kurukshetra University.

BJP opposes bid to foist power tariff hikeNew Delhi, May 8The Delhi Pradesh BJP has opposed any hike in retail or bulk supply tariff of electricity. Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Legislative Assembly Prof Jagdish Mukhi on Thursday said the proposal was “illogical” and that the private distributors of power were showing losses so that they could conspire for an increase in tariff.

Mystery shrouds youth’s death in NTPC poolDadri (Noida), May 8A youth was found to have drowned in mysterious circumstances in the NTPC township swimming pool in Dadri. His clothes were found lying in a polythene bag outside the pool, indicating that the person knew how to swim.

DSGMC SALVO
Ultimatum to Centre on Punjabi’s statusNew Delhi, May 8The Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee
(DSGMC) has asserted that if the Union Government does not take a decision on the status of Punjabi within a month, they will launch an agitation.

Goaded by chief secy, MCD chief revives ‘public durbar’ New Delhi, May 8With the Chief Secretary of the NCT of Delhi, Mrs Shailja Chandra, ordering that a list of public dealing offices of the Municipal Corporation be provided in order of priority, the Municipal Commissioner, Mr. Rakesh Mehta, has decided to meet citizens of the Capital two days in a week to address their grievances.

Yet another step in economic regeneration of MewatNuh (Gurgaon), May 8The efforts of the Mewat Development Agency (MDA), aimed at the economic regeneration of the marginal farmers in the area, by encouraging them to switch over to high-value aromatic and medicinal plants, bore fruit today with the installation of an oil extraction plant in Nuh, a nerve centre of Mewat.

END OF TERROR
Former TADA detainee shot dead in encounterMeerut, May 8A symbol of terror and notorious for his heinous criminal activities in Delhi, Haryana, western UP and Rajasthan, Arvind Jongti was shot dead in an encounter with the Meerut police, near the Jitali railway crossing on Wednesday evening. The police had put a reward of Rs 7,500 on his head.

Dyeing units refuse to shift, plots on offer ‘too expensive’Panipat, May 8The shifting of the over 500 dyeing units from the residential areas to the industrial area has again hit a roadblock, with the Panipat Dyers Association expressing its unwillingness to shift to the industrial area in Sector 29 here.

Fluoride-rich water being supplied to Gohana villagesSonepat, May 8Though the Public Health Department claims to have provided drinking water in every village of the district in a large number of villages of Gohana region in the district the private parties have started their own supplies despite the fact that the private supplies are full of the substances considered injurious to health according to laboratory tests.

Govt is browbeating farmers: CongJhajjar, May 8The state unit of the Congress has condemned the alleged implication of the Bhartiya Kisan Union president, Mr Ghasiram Nain, in false cases and blamed the state government of victimising kisan leaders and browbeating farmers who were opposing the Chautala government due to its failure in providing adequate water and power.

DELHI IN PARLIAMENT
100 acres
of defence
land with encroachersNew Delhi, May 8More than 100 acres of defence land is under encroachment in the national Capital, the Lok Sabha was informed today.
Replying to a written question, defence Minister George Fernandes said over 100 acres of defence land was under encroachment in Delhi and the instruction had been issued to all concerned to take the steps for their removal.

A Red Cross representative pins a badge on the PM, to mark the International Red Cross Day in the Capital on Thursday.
— PTI Photo

Dead, for the record onlySonepat, May 8Believe it or not, one Luxmi Chand, resident of Rattan Garh village, is alive, but he is shown in official records as ‘dead’. Incidentally, Luxmi Chand’s wife is getting the family pension.

Demolition-hit shopkeepers block trafficSonepat, May 8A number of irate shopkeepers and ‘rehriwalas’ held up traffic for about two hours at Devilal Chowk near the bus stand here last evening in
protest against the alleged discrimination in demolishing the unauthorised structures and removing the encroachment on the municipal and public land by the officials of the Sonepat Municipal Council.

HC officer finds man handcuffed in ‘illegal detention’
Sonepat: Mr Subhash Kumar Nasa, Registrar-cum-Warrant Officer of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, conducted a surprise raid at the Sadar Police Station of Gohana town, 35 km from here, and found a youth, Bijender of Bhainswal Kalan village, handcuffed in the lock-up.

NCR BRIEFS
Two get life term for gang rape of minorPanipat, May 8Dr Neelima Shangla, Additional Sessions
Judge, today sentenced two residents of Nangal Kheri village—Ramesh Chand and Rajesh—to life imprisonment on the charges of gang rape of a minor girl.

Two killed in head-on collision

SUCI backs farmers

Exam dates clash

DELHI DIGEST
Ad hoc licensing policy for shops to start by May-endNew Delhi, May 8The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) today announced that ad hoc licensing policy for shops and factories would be started from the end of this month.The decision was taken after reviewing the licensing department where a number of applications for shops and factory licence were lying. This policy was suspended in 2000.

LPG-laden canter turns turtleSonepat, May 8A canter loaded with LPG rammed a tree and overturned on the Sonepat-Gohana Road near Pinana village about 20 km from here yesterday. According to a report, none was injured and there was no leakage of the gas after the overturning The canter was on its way from Loni (Ghaziabad) to Jind. On receipt of information, the police arrived on the scene and blocked the road on both sides.

Sonepat development works get a fillipSonepat, May 8 The Sonepat Municipal Council has accelerated the development activities in all the 31 wards spread in Sonepat city, a district headquarters in Haryana.

Six gangsters held; arms and gold seizedNew Delhi, May 8North-East district police today claimed to have busted a gang of desperate criminals who operated in the Trans-Yamuna area with the arrest of six suspects.The suspects were identified as Shakilluddin alias
Shakeel, gang leader; Taslim Ahmed, Mohammad Aslam alias Ghoda, Arshad Saleem alias
Kaira, Anwar and Mohammad Furkan.

MDU notifies vacation schedule, termsRohtak, May 8Maharshi Dayanand University has notified the schedule of terms and vacation for its teaching departments, PG Regional Centre, Rewari, undergraduate and postgraduate colleges affiliated to and maintained by the university for the academic session 2003-04.

Colleges to function six days a weekNew Delhi, May 8The new academic session that begins on July 16 will have colleges working six days a week to fulfil the 180 teaching days’ norm approved by the academic and executive councils.

Set up panels to supervise Juvenile Homes: HCNew Delhi, May 8
The Delhi High Court today asked the Government of NCT of Delhi to constitute Inspection Committees required under the Juvenile Justice Act by July 24 to oversee the working of Juvenile Homes in the Capital.

MUSIC ZONE
This exponent of Khayal is cast in his guru’s mouldIt was during the late 70s. At that time he was studying in class VII at his native village, Dewaria, in Uttar Pradesh. The school had organised a talent hunt contest in singing for the students. He sung a famous poem of Hindi poet Sri Jayshankar Prasad. And he was adjudged the best participant.

ARTSCAPE
Nascent nationalism on Bengal’s canvas
Currently on at the Delhi Art Gallery is an exhibition of pre-Independence Indian art. The exhibition, according to the critics, is one of the rarest ever held in the history of Indian art. The exhibition showcases the works of old masters and renowned artists of the pre-Independence period.
The exhibition, which reflects the inextricable romance tied up with art in the early 20th century, has been drawing huge crowds.Among the front-ranking provinces of a colonised nation, Bengal became the epicentre of the tensions and dichotomies of a nascent nationalism. On the most obvious level, the province demonstrated the need to counter the imperial British presence.

Yashoda and Krishna from the Early Bengal School.

DANCE
BEAT
Somya’s arangetaramSomya Sethuraman, who will have her Bharatanatyam arangetaram on Sunday at the India International Centre auditorium, has been learning the intricacies of the dance from Mrs Marie and Mr. G. Elangovan.A student of Class XII at Apeejay School, Noida, she has regularly performed at the school and temple functions.
She was awarded the first prize in the inter-school cultural competition on national integration and environment held by the Apex Council of Cultural Organisations for Regional Development (ACCORD).She also received a merit certificate for taking part in the Jagriti inter-school competition organised by a large newspaper group recently.

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PLAY
TIME
Jis Lahore Nahin Dekhya…Samagam brings to the national Capital this emotional story from the days of Partition as well as a strong comment on the then prevalent socio-political scenario. The show will be staged on May 11 at Kamani Auditorium.

Air Sahara cruise to
easy victoryNew Delhi, May 8Air Sahara breezed past South Delhi Colts by five wickets in the Goswami Ganesh Dutt Memorial Cricket Tournament at the Khalsa College ground on Thursday. Air Sahara will take on Punjab Cricket Association in a second round match on May 13.

Deepak Bhatnagar shines with batNew Delhi, May 8A dashing knock of 76 by Deepak Bhatnagar and a quickfire 46 by Kapil Mehta helped Air Sahara beat Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) by six wickets to enter the final of the 12th Shera Pandit Memorial Cricket Tournament at the Mohan Meakins ground. Deepak Bhatnagar was declared the man of the match.

Salwan
Boys, Hansraj move upNew Delhi, May 8An unbeaten 48 by Shobhit Kaushik was the highlight of Salwan Boys School’s seven-wicket victory over Ajay Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Academy in a league match of the Harry Cup Cricket Tournament at the Central Secretariat ground.

CRPF honours women weightliftersNew Delhi, May 8The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) director-general S C Chaube has hailed the performances of the women weightlifters from the Force who secured five gold medals for India in the recently-concluded Commonwealth Weightlifting Championship held at Tonga from May
1 to 3.